The ReQuest Foundation has awarded £500 towards Ruth Williams’ Arctic research project, helping to support her upcoming fieldwork in Arviat, Nunavut, Canada. Ruth is a PhD researcher at the University of Leeds whose work focuses on understanding how climate change is affecting the informal trail networks that Inuit communities rely on for travel, access to traditional hunting and fishing areas, and links with neighbouring communities.
These trail networks are a vital part of daily life in the Arctic, where there is little formal road infrastructure. For generations, communities have used knowledge passed down through families to travel safely across land, water and ice. However, the Arctic is warming at a far faster rate than the global average, resulting in thinner ice, more extreme weather events, and changing environmental conditions that can make traditional routes increasingly hazardous.
Ruth’s research aims to better understand how these changes are affecting trail accessibility and safety, particularly during the autumn and spring "shoulder seasons" when conditions can change rapidly. Working closely with local community members, she will combine interviews, focus groups and practical field observations with climate data, remote sensing technology and computer modelling. This approach will help ensure that local and Indigenous knowledge is fully integrated into future climate risk assessments.
The project will also explore how communities are adapting to changing conditions and will evaluate which strategies are most effective under different climate scenarios. The findings are expected to provide valuable information for both community planning and wider climate adaptation efforts, while contributing to academic understanding of how environmental change affects remote northern communities.
The grant from the ReQuest Foundation will contribute towards the significant travel costs associated with Arctic fieldwork, enabling Ruth to undertake essential research visits during 2026 and 2027. We are delighted to support this important project and look forward to hearing more about the outcomes of her work in the months ahead.